Kohli leads India's MVP race

March 27, 2012 15:13 IST

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present the most valuable players in the just-concluded Asia Cup in?Mirpur. Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan is the tournament's MVP. The in-form Virat Kohli, who placed second, is the best among the Indian players by a long way!

The two teams that contested the Asia Cup final -- Bangladesh and Pakistan -- were the keenest to get there.

For India, Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international century and the thumping win over Pakistan seemed enough reward.

For Sri Lanka, nothing seemed to matter -- as their tired players, after a gruelling schedule, just wanted to get back home.

Shakib Al Hasan's all-round performance -- 237 runs at a strike rate of over 110, and six wickets at an economy rate of 5.0, made him the most valuable player of the Asia Cup.

The MVPI formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, and bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate.

Virat Kohli, with an aggregate of 357 from just three innings, is second on the list, and Mohammad Hafeez richly deserves third place. He could have contributed even more value if he had taken more than three wickets or batted with a better strike rate.

For the Indian batsmen, it was far too easy, but run your fingers down the list to look for Indian bowlers; there is no one in the top 20!

R Ashwin has become too inert. Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar took five wickets apiece but conceded too many runs (economy rate of 6.0 and 6.7 respectively).

Aren't we missing the experience of Harbhajan Singh?

Table 1: Most valuable players in the Asia Cup (March 11-22, 2012)

Player Name

Team

Runs

Top score

Strike Rate

W

Eco

M

MVPI

1

Shakib Al Hasan

BAN

237

68

110.2

6

5.0

4

478

2

Virat Kohli

IND

357

183

102.0

0

3

442

3

Mohammad Hafeez

PAK

245

105

67.9

3

3.9

4

317

4

Umar Gul

PAK

43

39

134.4

9

5.8

4

261

5

Tamim Iqbal

BAN

253

70

80.8

0

4

250

6

Saeed Ajmal

PAK

12

8

120.0

8

4.3

4

248

7

Nasir Jamshed

PAK

193

112

96.0

0

4

234

8

Abdur Razzak

BAN

7

6

63.6

6

3.9

4

211

9

Mashrafe Mortaza

BAN

19

18

158.3

6

4.4

4

205

10

Nasir Hossain

BAN

165

54

71.4

0

6.0

4

192

11

Umar Akmal

PAK

156

77

96.9

0

4

183

12

Aizaz Cheema

PAK

9

9

81.8

8

5.9

4

178

13

Sachin Tendulkar

IND

172

114

80.4

0

7.2

3

167

14

Upul Tharanga

SL

122

57

91.0

0

3

147

15

Suresh Raina

IND

93

51

152.5

0

5.5

3

143

16

Shahid Afridi

PAK

41

32

107.9

3

4.8

4

138

17

Mushfiqur Rahim

BAN

60

46

142.9

0

4

135

18

Mahela Jayawardene

SL

95

78

110.5

0

3

123

19

Kumar Sangakkara

SL

142

71

73.6

0

3

123

20

MS Dhoni

IND

71

46

186.8

0

3

120

21

Ravichandran Ashwin

IND

0

0

5

5.2

3

119

22

Nazmul Hossain

BAN

0

0

4

4.3

2

117

23

Gautam Gambhir

IND

111

100

81.6

0

3

114

24

Younis Khan

PAK

67

52

103.1

0

4

105

25

Irfan Pathan

IND

0

0

5

6.0

3

104

26

Mahmudullah

BAN

53

32

101.9

1

4.9

4

95

27

Misbah-ul-Haq

PAK

97

72

72.4

0

4

92

28

Farveez Maharoof

SL

23

18

76.7

3

5.5

3

90

29

Praveen Kumar

IND

0

0

5

6.7

3

80

30

Rohit Sharma

IND

72

68

80.9

0

5.8

3

74

31

Suranga Lakmal

SL

0

0

0.0

4

5.9

3

74

32

S Senanayake

SL

19

19

90.5

2

4.8

1

73

33

Lahiru Thirimanne

SL

84

48

65.6

0

3

71

34

Jahurul Islam

BAN

78

53

65.5

0

4

69

35

Vinay Kumar

IND

0

0

3

6.1

1

65

36

Sarfraz Ahmed

PAK

65

46

81.3

0

3

63

37

Hammad Azam

PAK

38

30

80.9

1

5.9

3

56

38

Nuwan Kulasekara

SL

16

11

55.2

2

5.2

3

54

39

Tillakaratne Dilshan

SL

46

20

90.2

0

5.6

3

41

40

Ashok Dinda

IND

0

0

2

6.4

2

32

41

Nazimuddin

BAN

57

30

53.3

0

4

30

42

Ravindra Jadeja

IND

4

4

200.0

1

6.3

2

28

43

Shafiul Islam

BAN

1

1

50.0

1

5.6

2

22

44

Shahadat Hossain

BAN

0

0

0.0

4

7.1

4

20

45

Seekkuge Prasanna

SL

13

8

44.8

1

5.6

2

17

46

Lasith Malinga

SL

11

10

57.9

0

4.6

2

13

47

Dinesh Chandimal

SL

13

13

50.0

0

2

9

48

Asad Shafiq

PAK

4

4

66.7

0

1

3

49

Yusuf Pathan

IND

0

0

0

6.0

1

-5

50

Wahab Riaz

PAK

0

0

0

12.5

1

-30

Runs (scored) | Top score | Strike rate | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points |*Run outs are counted as 1 (wicket) for a direct hit, and 0.5 (wicket) if the fielder is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.

If we look at India's top performers in the on-going 2011-12 ODI season, Kohli towers over everyone else. Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir have had their moments, Ashwin has got enough wickets and Ravindra Jadeja, as always, has done enough to stay in the team, but never enough to win the team matches.

Virender Sehwag has been lackadaisical, Sachin Tendulkar has been lacklustre, and Yuvraj Singh has been sadly absent because of his illness. Many would consider this trio to make the difference between a good and a great team.?

Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2011-12 ODI season (31 matches so far)